


The White Wolf's New Therapist

by Introvertatheart



Series: The White Wolf's New Life [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky's New Therapist, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27889162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introvertatheart/pseuds/Introvertatheart
Summary: The time has come for Bucky to meet his new therapist. Bucky does not necessarily care about him but Steve learns something new about Bucky.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: The White Wolf's New Life [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952947
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	The White Wolf's New Therapist

Today was a busy day but also not a busy day. They only had two stops today. First was meeting the new therapist for Bucky. Second was getting Harley to the vet so she could get her information and shots updated. 

The therapist meeting was going to last however long Bucky could tolerate him and the vet's should take no longer than an hour.

But right now, Bucky's stubborn bratty side had came out in full swing while they were getting dressed and they needed to get on the road within twenty minutes if they were going to make it to the appointment on time. 

"Bucky, please just put the shirt on."

"No!" Bucky yelled from the sensory room and apparently Bucky was sitting against the door so Steve couldn't open it.

"Why today of all days?" Steve mumbled. "Okay, if you come out, we'll stop by the bakery on the way home."

"Promise?"

"You have to behave or no bakery." Steve heard Bucky whine then the door opened. Bucky had been half dressed when this whole mini tantrum was going on. His pants was soaked with drool. "Okay, we need to hurry." Steve got another long sleeve shirt and changed his pants. "You are going to put your shoes on in the truck." They quickly went downstairs. Steve grabbed Bucky's bookbag and Harley's harness. They quickly got in the truck then left.

They arrived to the therapy center with a few minutes to spare. And Bucky's bratty side came out again. All the magazines on the table ended up on the floor.

"Mr. Barnes-Rogers?" A worker asked. 

"That's us. Pick those up, please." Steve asked. Bucky shook his head. "Look at me." Bucky looked up. "Now." Steve slightly frowned at him and that seemed to work as he began putting the magazines back on the table. "Thank you for cleaning up. Let's go." 

They followed the worker to another room. Bucky saw toys in a bin and immediately grabbed them.

"You need to ask before you grab stuff, go sit down and wait." Bucky slightly growled at him but sat on the couch. Then the door opened.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Simon Jones. You must be Captain Steve Rogers and you must be Sergeant James Barnes-Rogers." Dr. Simon held out his hand.

Steve took his hand. "Yes, Steve is fine and he responds to Bucky a little better."

"Thanks for letting me know. I already got all the records from Dr. Nicole but I would like to evaluate him myself as I think he might have been misdiagnosed."

That hit Steve harder than he expected. Bucky whined and signed open.

"What does he want opened?" Dr. Simon asked. 

It surprised Steve a little that he knew sign language. "The toy box."

"He can open it, this room is also used for children with mental disorders."

"Okay, get one." Bucky opened the box and went for the spotted bunny.

"Bunny. Bunny." Bucky went in his book bag and got Lamby. "Lamby."

"Is his vocabulary limited in this mindset?" Dr. Simon asked.

"Yeah, I'm trying to teach him more words."

"And his age in this mindset is three?"

"Correct."

"I would say he's doing good. I do have a toddler at home and I hear this type of talk all day." He chuckled. "Now, is the three year old his dominant mindset?"

"Yeah."

"And how often do you see the other two?"

"Only when I asked for them." Dr. Simon nodded then looked at Bucky playing with the stuffed animals.

"Will he answer any questions?"

"He's being a brat today so I don't know if he's going to corporate."

"I will try my best." Dr. Simon got up and sat at the table. "Good morning, am I speaking to Bucky?" Bucky slightly looked at him then played with the bunny. "I think I am. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"No."

"Bucky." Steve said.

"No, it's okay. Is he food driven?"

"Very much." Dr. Simon nodded and got a bag of jellybeans from his desk. Immediately, Steve's heart jumped in his throat.

"Those are store bought, right?" Steve asked. 

"Yes." Then Steve could see the realization on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry. They did tell me about the incident with the fake doctor. I assure you these are bought from the store just two days ago." Steve breathed a sigh of relief. 

"I'm sorry, it's just something as simple as that made him act so berserk."

"I understand. I will never do that to him. I am here to build a trusting relationship."

"Thank you." 

Dr. Simon sat at the table again and handed Bucky two jellybeans. Bucky looked at them then put them in his mouth. Different but he liked it.

"More."

"You have to do a few things. As you complete them, I'll give you two more. Okay?"

"Kay."

"Excellent. Now I am going to lay out this sheet and I want you to write out the names in your head and tell me who does what." Dr. Simon explained as he laid out a plain paper.

"He doesn't really know how to write, he likes to draw." Steve said.

"Oh, okay, change of plans. Can you draw out the people in your head? You can draw yourself and I am going to find some personality trait cards." Dr. Simon laid out the crayons and Bucky began to draw. Dr. Simon got up and got a few cards. "On these, I have personality traits. So I want you to describe you and the others. So you strike me as curious, so I'll put this here." Bucky sort of got the concept of it and started placing the cards down.

"How often are his meltdowns?"

"He's been getting better. But maybe two or three times a month."

"Do they start as tantrums or is it straight meltdowns?"

"Straight meltdowns. They usually come from him being extremely overwhelmed at something. Sometimes one of them are out of the blue, nothing going on and I hear him screaming."

"Does the three year old remember the abuse from the soldier or was the oldest abused as a child?"

"I'm not sure about him remembering the abuse, but I am certain that the oldest wasn't abused. His family loved him so much." Steve said.

"Did anyone speak of the three year old being abused?" 

That had Steve stomped a little. "When I first got him, I was told he had most likely been sexually abused. What are you getting at?"

"I believe if he's having a random meltdown, he's overwhelmed with memories. It could be his own memories or it could be the others memories." Steve didn't even think about it like that. Even if when he asked Bucky about it, he just said bad over and over again.

"That makes sense."

"Done." Bucky said. He had drawn the mindsets as stick figures. The oldest had short hair, the youngest drew himself as the smallest but with long hair and he drew Winter with long hair and a black mask.

"What's his name?" Dr. Simon asked pointing to the oldest.

"Bucky."

"But your name is Bucky?" Bucky nodded. "Why don't we call him James for right now? This is something I recommend talking to him about." Steve nodded. "Okay and what's his name?" He pointed to Winter. 

"Winter."

"Okay, James, Bucky and Winter. You have James marked as calm, brave and charming." Steve couldn't help to snicker at that. "You have yourself as funny, playful and stubborn." Steve snickered again. "Winter is scary, protective and weird." This time Steve didn't snicker. "Would say most of this is true, Mr. Rogers?"

"James and Bucky are both stubborn but yeah, pretty true."

"And from this I can conclude that James is the core in this system. The one holding this together since he was here first. From there, the three year old is the host since he is present the most. Winter is the protector. He has to protect this system. Has Winter ever appeared when there was danger?"

"Yeah, he has. Most recently on Thanksgiving, he had came out of a seizure and he had nearly attacked someone. He's done it before but it's still odd."

"I see. Thank you for introducing me to your other friends. Here you go." Dr. Simon gave Bucky four jellybeans.

"Say thank you." Steve said.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now for an evaluation, he did good. I'll have to remember to keep a jar of jellybeans around. But I noticed he was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, I believe he has OSDD, other specified dissociative disorder."

"What's the difference?"

"This is a little complicated to explain but simply people with DID have amnesia when switching. Bucky's system remembers everything. Even when they switch, Bucky could probably tell me Winter did this or he remembers when James did this. And the fact that he can distinctly tell me the personality of each one tells me that he experiences no amnesia which, I daresay, is impressive given the trauma."

Steve sighed and rubbed his face. That was way too much information. "How does this affect him?"

"It doesn't, if anything, despite the diagnosis, it won't be something he has to be medicated on."

"Good."

"Now as for therapy sessions, I would like take a session and talk to the two other mindsets individually and try to start a path of recovery for him. Were you informed that he has complex PTSD?"

"I figured it was just severe."

"Well considering this is a traumatic event that happened well over a year, he would be considered complex as this lasted for many decades. His PTSD is complex but also rather severe."

"Nice to know."

"On a more easier note, I would like to see him two times a week just start off. If he has days were he's too fussy to go anywhere, I can always video chat."

"That works. Um, we are going on a trip on the week of Christmas so is it okay that I can call or text you during the trip?"

"Of course, I always recommend my patients give me call if they are having a tough time. Where are you going, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Disney World."

"Oh, fun."

"Yeah, but he has major anxiety and we are getting there by plane. He has been on a jet but he hasn't been on a plane with other people. I'm sure he's bound to have a meltdown."

"And you're worried he might cause a disturbance?"

"Yeah."

"Distractions are key, bring his toys and bring snacks. Something to keep his mind off of 'I'm in a weird scary place'. It's okay if he has a reaction once the plane is in the sky, he's scared and that's okay. But once the plane settles, get him settled. If you believe that he will not be able to settle down quick enough, I recommend you ask Dr. Banner about a sedative medication."

"He's already on so many medicine."

"The seizure medicine and the anger medicine. Is there more?"

"He has chronic pain in his left shoulder and back. It gets to the point where he doesn't even want to eat, so Bruce made a medicine for him."

"I see and you don't want to overload his system with another one. Then I would just recommend you distract him the best you can. I believe he will be okay."

"His sensory issues are going to flare up."

"Yes, I did see that in his file. Sensory processing disorder. Where does it show the most?"

"I think his hearing. He's doesn't like when I turn on the vacuum cleaner, he covers his ears."

"And getting on a large jet engine plane isn't going to help. Especially when you reach the altitude when your ears begin to pop."

"I have headphones for him, they're noise cancelling but he's still a bit sensitive."

"I understand, you can call me the day before the trip for any tips. I'll be more than happy to help."

"Thank you. It's almost 2 o'clock. We have an appointment with the vet. Thank you for everything, I think he's going to like it here."

"And I look forward to working with him."

"Bucky, we need to go."

"Bunny."

"You have a bunny similar to that one at home. I promise you do. It's on your shelf." Bucky looked at him then at the bunny. It did look a little familiar. So he put the bunny back in the bin and got up.

"It was nice to meet you Bucky." Dr. Simon said.

"Bye-bye." They left the therapy center and got in the truck.

"I'm so proud of you. You did really good."

"Cookie."

"One more stop then we can go to the bakery." Bucky sighed loudly. "Oh, stop being dramatic." Steve got in the truck then drove to the vet.

Their new veterinarian office dealt with just about every animal there is. Large animals to horses and cows to the small one like reptiles. Steve was pretty happy that a large animal vet was close by and they could do home calls when needed.

They went inside the vet's office and checked in. There wasn't a lot people waiting but a particular small dog was not happy about Harley being so close to it. Steve guessed the dog was a chihuahua mix because the dog was small but its body was rather large.

"Is it aggressive?" The owner asked.

"No, she's the sweetest thing."

"She's making my baby nervous." The owner looked more scared than the dog. Harley hasn't even acknowledged the tiny dog, she was simply sitting next to Bucky's legs sniffing the air.

"Harley?" Asked a young doctor. Steve quickly got up to get away from the barking rat and followed the lady to a room. "The doctor will be in shortly." She left.

"I need you sit on that chair and not touch anything." Steve pointed. Bucky sat on the only chair in the room and chewed on his chewy.

Then a knock and an older African American gentleman came. "Hello, I'm Dr. Callen. You must be Harley." The doctor said petting her head. "What can I do for you today?"

"She needs her shots and microchip information updated."

"Okay, are you originally from here?"

"No, we came from Manhattan a few months ago."

"Ah, okay, give me the name of the veterinary office you went to and we can have her information transferred here." Steve gave him the name of the facility and the doctor stepped out. Then Harley whined a bit.

"I'm sorry, but it has to happen." Steve scratched her head then looked at Bucky. Something outside had caught his attention, but that was fine as long as he wasn't being a distraction.

Then Dr. Callen came back in. "Alright, I have all of her paperwork. She needs her rabies updated so we'll go ahead and give her the DA2PP, which is a combination of all the vaccines."

"Oh, okay. That works." The doctor went through his cabinet and dug out a needle.

"No, no." Bucky whined.

"It's not for you, calm down." Steve said. Bucky slightly calmed down but stared at the doctor. 

"Let's get her on the scale, I think the weight on there is a little old." Harley politely walked on the scale. "125 pounds and 40 inches tall. You are one tall girl." Harley was more tall than body long. But as long as he didn't say she was thick, she took offence to that. "Alright, tiny poke here." The doctor stuck her in the shoulders. Harley barely noticed.

"Good girl."

"Alright, she maybe a little slow reacting today. Any abnormal reactions such as seizures or not eating dinner, give us a call we stay open late."

"Good to know. One last thing, we are going on a trip in a few weeks and we're going by plane, is there anything I should look out for?"

"Given that she is a service dog, some airlines are going to require you show documentation. Do you know which airline?"

"Delta."

"With Delta, they will recommend bringing the health form just in case someone does ask. And with Harley being such a tall animal, you will want to call the airline maybe two or three days before the flight to make sure that if someone is sitting next to you they are going to be okay with her." 

"Okay."

"And also do not feed her the night before the flight, you'll want to make sure that she'll be able to lay comfortably without worrying about going to the bathroom. But airports are pretty good about having an animal relief area."

"Okay, I'll definitely call them."

"Hungry. Hungry." Bucky whined.

"Okay, we're leaving. Can I have a health form?"

"Of course, come to front desk and we'll check you out." Dr. Callen left. Bucky was now getting a little hangry and Steve knew that a hangry tantrum was one he would rather not deal with in public. Or at all. They went to the front desk, paid for her shots and got the health form. "If the airline needs anymore information, tell them to give us a call."

"Will do. Thank you so much." They left the vet's office. Steve got Bucky and Harley in the truck then got in.

"Hungry."

"What do you want?"

"Cookie."

"Are you hungry for food or for sweets?"

"Both."

"There's chicken nuggets at home, we can stop by the bakery. That okay?"

"Okay." Steve turned on the truck then they stopped by the bakery. Bucky got the same sugar cookies from before and Steve got Harley some doggy cookies for her good behavior today.

Once they arrived, Steve warmed up the chicken nuggets and gave Harley her doggy cookies. But she did look a little more tired than usual, a common side effect from what the vet said.

A little later into the evening, Harley slept most of the day away. Bucky nibbled on his cookies while watching TV with Steve in the bedroom.

"Hey, did you like that guy at the therapy center?" The answer to that was a shrug. "He's going to be your new therapist." That made Bucky look at him. "Dr. Nicole had an emergency and she can't do therapy anymore. Same goes with Ms. Lisa, she can't do school."

"No school?"

"Well you'll still have school, but I'll be teaching you." 

"Daddy, school?"

"That's right. I think you'll enjoy it. We'll have many adventures so you're not stuck in the house. I'll try to make it fun but you have to behave and respect me." Steve said poking his tummy. Bucky sat up and began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

Bucky shook his head a little. "He ain't gonna respect you, Stevie. He's so stubborn."

"I wonder where he gets it from. Listen, now that you're here can I ask how you feel about him?"

"Unsure. I knew eventually they would start to ask about the past but I'm scared and I don't know how I'll react."

"It's okay to be nervous, but he looked like he would be patient and understanding."

"Only time will tell, Stevie." 

"One last question. Do you want to be called James and just call the three year old Bucky?"

Bucky took a deep sigh and then looked at him. "When I hear James, I think of the past. When I hear Bucky, I think of you. But you are also my past. Then again, you say James when the three year old steps out of line. So I don't know what to think about it really."

"I guess it would be confusing. How about I call you Buck? The three year old can stay Bucky and I'll say James when he misbehaves. And Winter can stay Winter."

"Degrading me of my own nickname, really Stevie?" Bucky frowned. Steve didn't really know what to say about that, he felt guilty. "I'm just kidding Rogers, Buck is fine."

"No, be honest, is it seriously going to bother you?"

"No, you punk. I don't really care."

"I need you to care. You were James before you were Bucky. So you will be James."

"Whatever makes you happy."

"This isn't about me, this is your choice."

"When has anything ever been my choice, Steve?" That hit a nerve. "I've already had my mind and body stolen from me, the least I could have is my name."

"Then you'll be called James. That's the name that can't be taken from you. I'll figure out a way to be serious with the three year old."

"Not doing a very good job." James mumbled.

"Say again."

"You can't build resistance to his puppy dog eyes and politeness."

"Yeah, well, I try but he is stubborn and a bit too clever for a three year old."

"I don't know where that comes from."

"Wherever it comes from," Steve said, grabbing his hand and laying him back down. "I'm glad you're starting a path to recovery."

"It's going to be a long one."

"It's okay, we got time." Steve kissed his head. Bucky laid his head in his chest. He rubbed his head then sighed.

"Cookie?" Bucky offered.

"All yours." Steve smiled at him. Bucky ate his cookie. Eventually they would need to get up and make dinner. But Steve just wanted to enjoy this moment.

The conversation had left a bad thought in Steve's head. Did James really think he doesn't have a choice in his life? He could understand why he thought that way. But it would change as they worked on his recovery.

James will be out more to experience the modern world and Winter needed to work on his social skills, probably more so than the three year old. Patience and understanding was key with all three of them and Steve was determined to make sure that everyone got equal treatment. Even with this Disney trip coming up.

**Author's Note:**

> This week has been a blur to me and honestly I forgot it was Friday for a few hours. But I already have one more filler piece written and two parts of the Christmas special in progress.


End file.
